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Show .ASituationJ Los Angeles, August 8. One of the most insidious and far-reaching propositions has just been made by certain Middle Western packing in-! terests, plus the advocates of mech- ' anical refrigeration, asking the Rail- j roads to haul dressed hogs from Mid-' die Western centers to the West ; Coast at the same rate per hundred-1 weight now charged on live hogs, at the same time also filing petitions with the Interstate Commerce Com- j mission asking for a hearing in the event that the Railroads refuse the application. 1 In connection with the application to the Railroads we have the usual threat to use refrigerated trucks. This proposal means that dressed hogs can be brought in much cheaper than the live hog. If the proposition is good in the case of pork it is also good in the case of beef and lamb; and finally, that being so, there is a threat at our whole slaughtering process pro-cess and distributing plants now serving the meat food industry of the West with their extensive labor employment em-ployment and payroll distrib .tion running into millions of dollars now passing through Western trade channels. chan-nels. Undoubtedly the West is a natural livestock country, differing greatly from the eastern states that long since went out of the commercial livestock business, being unable to compete with the great Corn Belt and the refrigerator car. Now that we are getting so many people on the West Coast and encouraged by improved im-proved refrigeration, the Western Coast is the apple of the Corn Belt Packer's eye. It looks like a battle to the end because' Western agriculture agricul-ture and livestock interests will not yield what they regard as an inherent inher-ent right to till, sow, and to make the most beneficial use of the harvest; the only thing that can be done with our enormous land areas. And the industrial and business (fabric of these Western states will also fight for the right to reap the benefits of agriculture and its indispensable partner livestock, j I have an abiding faith in the fairness of the Railroads surely they should be the last to voluntarily tear down by unwise rate making, . the thing they have strived to build j up during the past half century, but : we can recognize that there is a big traffic influence back of this proposal and that the Railroads are already very much alarmed over the develop-j develop-j ment of truck transportation; so it I is up to the people of the West to help the Railroads by furnishing facts and figures in support of their position and in defense of their j rights. ' If by any chance this proposal is granted it will not be possible to ship live hogs in competition with the dressed movement and even though (here would not be a heavy move-. move-. ment of pork loins, hams, bacons, j etc., (all contained in the dressed I hog) the very existence of the pre-, pre-, ferential rate will stand as a con-i con-i stant menace to price stability and tend to create market demoralization. |